BARLIN GAMES

Legal

Cookies Policy

The cookies and similar technologies Barlin Games uses, what each category does, which third parties are involved, and how to change your choices at any time.

Last updated:

  • Fair and transparent
  • A safe community
  • Clear guidelines
  • Supporting gamers worldwide

Your cookie preferences

You have not answered the banner yet, so nothing outside the strictly necessary category is being stored.

Manage cookie preferences Your privacy choices
  • Necessary Essential for the site to function — session, security, load balancing.... Always on
  • Analytics Anonymous usage statistics (Google Analytics 4) that show which games, a... Not allowed
  • Marketing Personalised ads and retargeting (only if you opt in). Not allowed
  • Preferences Remembers UI choices beyond login (language, layout, favorites). Not allowed

Overview of cookie categories

  • Necessary

    Essential for the site to function — session, security, load balancing. Cannot be disabled.

    Always active 6 cookies

  • Analytics

    Anonymous usage statistics (Google Analytics 4) that show which games, articles and searches matter most, so we can improve the site.

    Optional 3 cookies

  • Marketing

    Personalised ads and retargeting (only if you opt in).

    Optional 6 cookies

  • Preferences

    Remembers UI choices beyond login (language, layout, favorites).

    Optional 4 cookies

Cookies we use

Name Set by Purpose Lasts Kind Category
_ga Google Analytics Tells one visitor apart from another with a random identifier, so visits can be counted. 2 years Cookie Analytics
_ga_% Google Analytics Keeps the session state for this site's Google Analytics property. 2 years Cookie Analytics
ez_screen Barlin Games Records your screen size alongside a page view so layouts can be checked at real widths. 30 days Cookie Analytics
__eoi Google AdSense Ad delivery and measurement, including limiting how often the same ad is shown. 13 months Cookie Marketing
__gads Google AdSense Stores a unique ID used to display Google Ads across sites. 13 months Cookie Marketing
__gpi Google Ad Manager Publisher personalised advertising identifier. 13 months Cookie Marketing
IDE Google Ads (DoubleClick) Third-party Used by Google DoubleClick to register and report the website user's actions after viewing / clicking one of the advertiser's ads. 1 year Cookie Marketing
NID Google Third-party Remembers the visitor's preferences for Google services and ads. 6 months Cookie Marketing
test_cookie Google Ads Third-party Tests whether the browser supports cookies. 15 minutes Cookie Marketing
barlin_games_session Barlin Games Keeps your session between requests. Set by Laravel; SESSION_LIFETIME is 120 minutes. 2 hours Cookie Necessary
cookies Barlin Games Legacy "consent recorded" flag kept in sync with ez_consent for older code paths. 30 days Cookie Necessary
ez_consent Barlin Games Records the visitor's cookie preferences (JSON of category flags). 1 year Cookie Necessary
ez_visitor Barlin Games Opaque anonymous visitor identifier used to link successive consent decisions. 2 years Cookie Necessary
NL_SESSION Barlin Games PHP session for the newsletter subsystem. Cleared when you close the browser. Session Cookie Necessary
XSRF-TOKEN Barlin Games Cross-site request forgery token, checked on every form submission. 2 hours Cookie Necessary
barlin_sidebar_compact Barlin Games Admin sidebar compact-mode toggle. persistent Local storage Preferences
ez_ab_dismissed Barlin Games Remembers that you dismissed the ad-blocker notice so it is not shown again. Set in Admin, Ad-blocker settings Cookie Preferences
theme_hint Barlin Games JavaScript-readable copy of your theme choice, so the page paints in the right theme straight away. 30 days Cookie Preferences
theme_mode Barlin Games Stores the light or dark theme you chose. 30 days Cookie Preferences

This policy lists every cookie and similar technology Barlin Games uses, what each one is for, and how long it lasts. It matches the cookie list the consent banner shows you — both are generated from the same declarations.

What cookies are

A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store. On the next visit the browser sends it back, which is how a site can remember that you are signed in, that you chose dark mode, or that you already answered the cookie banner. Some are set by Barlin Games itself (first-party); some are set by another company whose code runs on the page (third-party). This policy also covers localStorage, which stores data in your browser in the same way but is never sent to a server.

When you first arrive, the consent banner asks which categories you want to allow. Nothing outside the strictly necessary category is set until you say yes. You can change that decision at any time from Your Privacy Choices, which reopens the same panel and lets you withdraw consent as easily as you gave it.

Your browser also has its own controls, which override anything on this site — every major browser can block cookies, block third-party cookies only, or clear what is already stored. Blocking the strictly necessary ones will stop parts of the site working, including staying signed in.

Barlin Games honours the Global Privacy Control signal. If your browser or an extension sends GPC, it is treated as a refusal of the analytics and advertising categories without your having to touch the banner.

These make the site work and are always on. They cannot be switched off from the banner because there is no version of the site that functions without them.

NameSet byPurposeLasts
barlin_games_sessionBarlin GamesKeeps your session between page loads, including sign-in.2 hours
XSRF-TOKENBarlin GamesCross-site request forgery token, checked on every form you submit.2 hours
NL_SESSIONBarlin GamesSession for the newsletter sign-up subsystem.Until you close the browser
ez_consentBarlin GamesStores which cookie categories you allowed, so you are not asked again.1 year
ez_visitorBarlin GamesA random identifier with no name or account attached, used to tie your consent record to your later choices and to answer a data request about that record.2 years
cookiesBarlin GamesOlder consent flag, still read so visitors who answered before July 2026 are not asked again.30 days

These remember a choice you made about how the site looks or behaves. Refusing them costs you nothing except that the site forgets the setting.

NameSet byPurposeLasts
theme_modeBarlin GamesStores whether you chose the light or dark theme.30 days
theme_hintBarlin GamesA copy of the same choice that JavaScript can read, so the page paints in the right theme immediately instead of flashing.30 days
ez_ab_dismissedBarlin GamesRemembers that you dismissed the ad-blocker notice so it is not shown again.Set in the site's ad-blocker settings
barlin_sidebar_compactBarlin GamesRemembers a collapsed sidebar in the administration area. Stored in localStorage, never sent to a server.Until you clear site data

Page views are counted on our own server, and since September 2026 Barlin Games also uses Google Analytics 4 to see which pages, games and articles are read and what is searched for. Google Analytics runs under Consent Mode: until you allow this category it sets no cookie and sends only cookie-less pings that carry no identifier. Google derives an approximate location from your IP address and does not store the address. You can also block Google Analytics in every site with Google's opt-out browser add-on.

NameSet byPurposeLasts
ez_screenBarlin GamesYour screen size, recorded alongside a page view so pages can be checked at the widths people actually use.30 days
_gaGoogle AnalyticsTells one visitor apart from another with a random identifier, so visits can be counted.2 years
_ga_*Google AnalyticsKeeps the session state for this site's Google Analytics property.2 years

The server-side record of a page view is described in the Privacy Policy.

Barlin Games is free to read and carries advertising through Google AdSense (publisher ID ca-pub-7921630236767304). Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or to other websites; Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.

AdSense runs under Google Consent Mode v2: its script is present on every page, but ad storage, ad personalisation and ad user data all default to denied, so nothing below is written to your browser until you allow the advertising category. Refuse it and you still see the site normally — any ads shown are non-personalised and cookie-less.

NameSet byPurposeLasts
__gadsGoogle AdSenseMeasures how often an ad is shown and limits repeats.13 months
__gpiGoogle Ad ManagerAd delivery and frequency capping.13 months
__eoiGoogle AdSenseAd delivery and measurement, including limiting how often the same ad is shown.13 months
IDEGoogle (doubleclick.net)Ad selection and measurement.1 year
test_cookieGoogle (doubleclick.net)Checks whether your browser accepts cookies.15 minutes
NIDGoogle (google.com)Stores Google ad preferences.6 months

You can opt out of personalised advertising by Google in Google Ads Settings, and of other vendors' personalised advertising at www.aboutads.info or, in Europe, www.youronlinechoices.eu. The other ad networks and vendors that may serve through AdSense are listed, with links to their policies, on Google's ad technology providers page. Google's own description of what it does with this data is in the Google privacy & terms pages.

A few external services are contacted while a page loads. None of them set a cookie unless stated:

  • Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com, fonts.gstatic.com) supplies the typefaces. It sets no cookies, but it does receive the request, which includes your IP address.
  • YouTube thumbnails (i.ytimg.com) are loaded as plain images on game pages that have a trailer. Images alone set no cookies.
  • YouTube and Vimeo players load only after you press play. YouTube is embedded through youtube-nocookie.com, so nothing from YouTube reaches your browser unless you choose to watch a video — at which point YouTube or Vimeo may set their own cookies under their own policies.

What we do not use

Because generic cookie policies tend to list everything, it is worth being specific about what is not here. Beyond the Google Analytics described above, Barlin Games runs no other analytics product — there is no Google Tag Manager container on this site — no Matomo, Plausible, Segment, Amplitude or Hotjar — and no advertising or conversion pixel from Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, X or Microsoft. There is no Stripe integration and the site is not behind Cloudflare. If that ever changes, this page and the consent banner change with it.

Changes to this policy

The cookie tables above are generated from the same declarations the consent banner reads, so the two cannot drift apart. When a cookie is added or removed the consent version is raised, and if the change affects a category you previously answered, the banner asks again.

Contact

Questions about anything on this page, or a request about the data behind it, can be sent through the contact form. Related reading: the Privacy Policy and Your Privacy Choices.

support@barlingames.com